Removing crabmeat from the shell structure of a cooked crab body by hand is a messy operation and requires the shell to be broken, usually with a mallet. Each crab is usually handled several times as the meat is extracted.
A variety of machines have been developed to extract the edible crabmeat from the crab shell quite effectively. However, hand picking of crabmeat is still quite time consuming and requires some degree of dexterity. In some cases where dexterity is impaired or speed is a premium benefit, additional apparatus are usually employed. For example once the crabs have been cooked and cooled sufficiently for handling, the legs and claws are removed in some manner and the crab body is cleaved into halves. At this point in the process, crabmeat extraction devices are employed for pressing the crabmeat from each half. While great care may be taken during the pressing process, some meat is left in the shell structure, and a great number of shell fragments also find their way into the meat along with other inedible portions. Such pressing operations do not generally provide a method for removing the meat from the crab claws without first cracking them by another means.
Those skilled in the art of processing crabs by cutting and extracting the meat utilizing automated machines are well aware of the need to remove the legs and claws prior to orienting and fixing the crab in position for cutting the shell. The process for removing the legs and claws is not considered an important aspect of crab processing. However, manual processing of a cooked crab requires forethought regarding how to attack the crab in an orderly manner. Therefore, orientation of the crab and the manual removal of the legs and claws as a first step is a serious consideration. Unfortunately, there are no instructions on the crab to inform those who may be unfamiliar with the creatures as to how to make entry and what parts are edible. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide manual methods and apparatus for rapidly preparing crab bodies with minimum effort and minimum loss of edible meat.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide illustrative instructions for removal of the legs, claws, and swimmer legs from the crab body and the proper severing of the body in order to reduce the dexterity required for removing the meat.